A Bitter Bill to Swallow

A Bitter Bill to Swallow
by Robert Yoho

Once more, all America can marvel at the latest wonder of science. The Clinton administration has instructed the Food and Drug Administration to legalize RU-486, the French abortion pill. Some are even calling it a "human pesticide."

American women will no longer require a surgical procedure to eliminate the baby they conceived in a moment of thoughtlessness. Now they can purge that growing inconvenience from their bodies in the pleasant confines of their own bathrooms.

President Clinton has said that he wanted to keep abortion "safe, legal, and rare." The new abortion pill will only succeed at accomplishing one of those objectives. The long-term consequences of the pill have yet to be fully realized. Now that the surgical component has been removed from abortion, more women will be encouraged to end their pregnancies. But at what cost?

Nobody knows the long-term health risks that have yet to be seen with this product. I see RU-486 as a boon to trial lawyers--a class action lawsuit waiting to happen. A miscarriage isn't really a condition that is beneficial to a woman's health. Moreover, a forced miscarriage, such as is caused by the pill, cannot be done without incurring some long-term health risks. Like asbestos, cigarettes, and silicone breast implants, RU-486 is a cash cow waiting for the trial lawyers to slaughter.

And what about the emotional damage that women will suffer? A baby forcibly removed from the womb by a doctor may not be as emotionally traumatic as the eventual realization that you are solely responsible for the means of your own baby's death.

The long-term health and safety of the mother was not the primary reason this product was approved for usage in the United States. This was Clinton's election-year gift to Al Gore to allow him to reintroduce the abortion issue into the presidential race with George W. Bush. It is nothing more than a long term threat to women's health in order to gain some short term benefit to Gore 2000.

If there is a "morning after" pill you can take to get rid of the life you made last night, then RU-486 should eliminate the need for any more partial birth abortions. Why must we continue to wait until the last minutes of pregnancy? Why should we find it necessity to plunge any more scissors into a baby's head only moments before birth? The abortion pill allows you to kill your baby now and skip the last minute rush. The do-it-yourself home miscarriage in a bottle makes partial birth abortion obsolete, ghastly, and undeniably criminal. With the availability of RU-486, perhaps Bill Clinton and Al Gore will call for the abolishment of these unnecessary, late term abortions.

Isn't technology great! We can take a single pill and get rid of the products of our passion. Except for the danger of sexually transmitted diseases, a simple prescription from our doctor can alleviate nearly every problem that comes from unprotected sex.

What is the necessity for taking a pill to eliminate an unplanned pregnancy? I seem to remember that medical science has already given us a pill that will prevent a conception from taking place. Those who do not prescribe to the idea that "abstinence makes the heart grow fonder" can already take a birth control pill that will prevent those private indiscretions from becoming public knowledge. Wouldn't it be more convenient for the potential mother to take precautions before engaging in the actions that can lead to a bouncing baby deduction?

For women with an unwanted pregnancy who do not wish to undergo a surgical procedure, the abortion pill may be just the prescription the doctor ordered. However, only time will reveal that RU-486 is really a bitter pill for society to swallow. Al Gore and America's trial lawyer's are the only people who stand to gain anything from the product's legalization. The women of America will be the eventual losers.